Pat McQuaid fighting to keep job as International Cycling Union president at management committee meeting

Pat McQuaid was on Friday night fighting to for his job as International
Cycling Union (UCI) president after opponents succeeded in forcing him to
discuss a dossier aimed at bringing him down and ultimately replacing him
with Britain’s Brian Cookson.

On the brink: UCI president Pat McQuaid could find himself forced out even before September's elections
Photo: REUTERS

McQuaid’s grip on power appears weaker than ever, with Cycling Ireland expecting its members to refuse to nominate their compatriot for September’s UCI elections and Swiss Cycling having established an arbitration hearing into its decision to endorse the president’s candidacy.

The beleaguered 63-year-old is now under threat of not even seeing out his full term in office. The latest attempt to oust him was kick-started during a stormy UCI management committee meeting in Bergen, Norway, on Friday.

Mike Plant, of the United States, forced McQuaid and the rest of the committee to discuss a dossier compiled about the UCI president using private investigators. After succeeding in blocking its introduction during the first day of the meeting, McQuaid’s attempts to do so again on Friday failed, though its contents had not been made public on Friday night.

The dossier represented the latest in a relentless series of attacks on McQuaid since Lance Armstrong was exposed as a serial drugs cheat.

McQuaid has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Armstrong’s activities, but the Irishman’s aggressive response to criticism of his anti-doping policies has alienated members of the cycling community to such an extent that Cookson, the British Cycling president, last week announced he would stand against him in the September elections.

That was after Cycling Ireland reversed its decision to nominate its former president to stand for a third term. A technicality ultimately forced the about-turn but Cycling Ireland chief executive Geoff Liffey on Friday admitted there had also been “a bit of a backlash” over the nomination, which was set to be voted on again on Saturday morning at an extraordinary meeting. Liffey said: “It’s probably more unlikely that he would receive the nomination than likely.”

McQuaid turned to Swiss Cycling – both he and the UCI are based in the country – after Ireland’s support was thrown into doubt.

That angered some members of both Cycling Ireland and Swiss Cycling, who claimed that the latter organisation had breached rules ­preventing one federation acting against the wishes of another. Three members of Swiss Cycling appealed against their authority’s nomination of McQuaid, while a legal challenge was also lodged that forced the organisation to set up a panel to decide whether the endorsement would stand.